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Following the scandalous Tezwa affair, the Federation President's resignation forces an election, with the future of the United Federation of Planets to be determined by who emerges victorious from a hotly contested vote. But it is the fate of the entire galaxy that may actually be decided on Qo'noS, as the Federation embassy is seized by terrorists whose actions expose intrigue reaching the highest levels of Klingon government -- and will take all of AmbassadorWorf's skills to keep the fragile Federation-Klingon alliance from collapsing. And while this potential intergalactic chaos looms, CommanderRiker finds his plans for command and marriage soured by a brutal, high-level inspection of the ship from which the crew may not escape unscathed....

The epic miniseries comes to a shocking conclusion -- one that will leave the Star Trek universe changed forever!

Worf's son Alexander Rozhenko, Wu, and the rest of the prisoners are being held captive by a group of Klingons apparently led by a man named Rov. Rov is able to contact the High Council, and declares that he is the leader of Klahb, a resistance group that has seized the embassy, and demands that Martok step down, that the clone posing as EmperorKahless be removed, and that the Klingon Empire declares war on the Federation.

Meanwhile, Worf has taken Kl'rt to the secret sub-subbasement where Section 31 had previously been. Upon hearing everything he needs to know from Rov's speech over the communication device Kl'rt dropped, Worf simply abandons Kl'rt in the sub-subbasement knowing that he can't escape and begins to attempt to take back the embassy. After fighting his way through several more of the invaders, he is eventually able to reinitialize the security system and flood the building with anesthezine gas, knocking everyone unconscious. He is able to retrieve Kl'rt and every invader is accounted for except for Rov who managed to escape in the confusion. Worf is then recalled to Earth to give a report to the Federation Council and two weeks later, he is finally on his way back to Qo'noS.

The senior crew members of the USS Enterprise-E assemble to watch Min Zife gives his resignation speech and discuss the prospects of various possible presidential candidates. CommanderRiker announces that he and CounselorTroi will be having their wedding ceremony in the Denali Mountains in Alaska and asks CaptainPicard to be his best man. Picard informs them that they will be undergoing a full inspection soon.

During the weekly poker game which LieutenantChristine Vale is attending for the first time (and winning), Lwaxana Troi calls from Betazed to inform Riker and Troi that she has been planning a large ceremony on Betazed despite what they wanted. Troi is furious with her mother and hangs up on her. That night, she has trouble sleeping so she contacts Counselor Marlyn Del Cid of the USS Amargosa to tell her about her troubles with her mother and with GeneralGyero Minza. Del Cid convinces Troi that she has to tell Riker the truth about Minza and how he made Troi feel.

Just as they reach Earth's orbit, Nanette Bacco is meeting with her campaign manager Esperanza Piñiero and the rest of her campaign staff to discuss strategy for the upcoming campaign which is now upon them one year earlier than they had planned. It comes as a shock to everyone when Admiral Ross signals Bacco and informs her that he believes she is the best candidate and would like to serve as a consultant to her campaign. With Ross and Benjamin Sisko supporting her, she should be able to win a very large piece of the Starfleet vote despite the fact that Pagro is better connected.

On his way back to Qo'noS, Worf has a conversation with Captain Janna Demitrijian of the USS Sugihara, the ship that is transporting him. She is concerned that if Fel Pagro is elected, the alliance between the Federation and the Klingons will certainly break down as he has been giving public speeches demanding that the Klingons end their conquering ways. Soon after his arrival, Worf proceeds to the Great Hall where he is finally to give his report on the situation with the presidency of the Federation.

The Council is also worried about the future if Pagro is elected. Martok then brings out Emperor Kahless whom Klahb had asserted was a hologram though everyone had assumed this was a lie. Martok then has a guard deactivate the Mobile emitter that Kahless is wearing and he disappears. Martok reveals that they have no way of knowing just how long the emperor has been a hologram but it must have been in the last two years.

Just then a messenger tells Martok that they have found Rov. He is broadcasting his demands to the entire Klingon Empire from Pheben V. Captain Tavana is in the area and destroys the only energy source on the planet stopping the transmission, but it is too late. The entire Empire has now heard that Kahless is a hologram. Martok orders Worf to get a formal written assurance that the Federation had nothing to do with abducting Kahless.

In San Francisco, Captain Montgomery Scott – "Scotty" – arranges to meet Admiral Ross in the commissary at Starfleet Command Headquarters. Eventually, he gets to the reason he wanted to meet: he has heard that Admiral Nakamura has added the Enterprise to the list of ships to be inspected and Scotty wants to be the final inspector on the team. Ross is happy to recommend Scotty for the assignment, but he wants to know why it is so important. Scotty reveals that the other three members of the inspection tour all have personal histories with the Enterprise and its crew that might lead them to give a negative review: Captain Wai-Lin Go was a close personal friend of Captain Jill Leeden of the USS Juno, who had recently died in the Rashanar incident; Dr.Toby Russell had a serious disagreement with Dr. Crusher over ten years ago and they have been fighting in and out of print for over ten years; and Sabin Genestra was serving as an aide to Admiral Norah Satie when she was disgraced by Captain Picard over an incident on the Enterprise. After hearing the details that Scotty has described, Ross promises to make sure that Scotty gets the last position on the inspection team.

Over a week later on the Enterprise, Vale has been promoted to Lieutenant Commander and Riker tells Picard that they have changed their plans and now will have their wedding on Betazed. Riker then goes to see Geordi La Forge in his quarters to offer him the position of first officer on the Titan. Geordi was not expecting the offer at all and has no idea what to say.

Just as Riker leaves, Captain Go requests to speak with Picard regarding personnel. She questions him about the large number of requests for transfers from personnel who get good evaluations and the incoming crew whose evaluations have been typically quite a bit worse. Picard wants her to focus on his crew since they have arrived and not on their past records, but Go makes it clear that she can do whatever she thinks is relevant for the tour.

Meanwhile in sickbay, Dr. Toby Russell is questioning Dr. Beverly Crusher as part of her duty to inspect the medical staff. Almost immediately, Russell and Crusher begin fighting over their past disagreements. Russell questions Crusher about how she dealt with the events on Delta Sigma IV. Russell tries to get Crusher to admit that by giving the inhabitants of the planet a drug that kept them pacified, she took the fast way out instead of the correct way so that she would be no better than Russell herself. But Crusher resists the comparison and points out that she argued against the procedure though she was ordered to do it by Captain Picard.

In the observation lounge, Sabin Genestra is questioning Christine Vale about personnel and security aboard the Enterprise. He gets a rise out of Vale by discussing her promotion and the pride and sense of vindication that she feels about it. By listing crew members who have died while Vale was in charge of security, he is able to make her extremely angry. Vale passes Genestra's little test by getting angry rather than feeling guilty about the deaths which is what he was most worried about.

At Bacco's presidential campaign headquarters in Venezia, Esperanza Piñiero has decided to tell Bacco the truth about Min Zife's resignation and the Federation’s involvement in the Tezwan affair. She has learned this information from Admiral Upton who was attempting to flirt with her.

As he is preparing to leave for Qo'noS, Worf is watching the first televised debate between Bacco and Pagro as Jas Abrik, campaign advisor to Fel Pagro, walks into the VIP lounge in Starfleet Headquarters looking for him. Abrik tells him of the Federation origins of the nadion-pulse cannons that were used to attack the Klingon vessels in orbit around Tezwa. Abrik warns Worf that this information will certainly get out sooner or later and that it may be necessary to release the information now and try to avoid war.

Meanwhile, in the debate, Pagro seems to be doing well by putting Bacco on the defensive. However, when Pagro appears to go one step too far, Bacco responds in a way that really pleases the audience. With the next question she attacks Pagro's policy on the Klingons and suddenly Pagro looks as though he has nothing to say. He stumbles through the rest of the debate, but Federation News Service polls are already showing that Bacco had gained substantial popular opinion.

Later, Esperanza Piñiero meets with Abrik to ask him to not reveal what he knows about Tezwa if Pagro loses the election. As an incentive, she promises him that he will be Bacco's chief of security if Bacco wins the election. He agrees, and Bacco does indeed win.

On Qo'noS, acting on behalf of the Federation embassy, Alexander meets with several councilors in an attempt to gain his support for the continued alliance between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Surprisingly, he is able to convince three of them, including Qolka, to agree.

Worf meets with Councilor Kopek in his office to discuss the same thing, but it does not go quite so well. Kl'rt, the Klahb member whom Worf trapped in the sub-subbasement of the embassy is hiding in the closet and once again attempts and fails to assassinate Worf who this time, kills Kl'rt in response. Kopek had arranged for Kl'rt to escape from his imprisonment leading Worf to realize that it was Kopek who was behind Klahb the whole time.

On the Enterprise, Captain Go calls Data to the observation lounge in order to interview him as part of the inspection tour. She is particularly concerned that the removal of Data's emotion chip might prevent him from being a good first officer. Data reveals that not only does he not think that having the chip gone will hamper him in any way, but that he has no plans to try to get it back. He believes that he is already experiencing emotions of a certain kind that he does not need the chip for. She also asks him about his brief stint as acting captain of the USS Sutherland.

In Ten-Forward, Geordi discusses his promotion offer with Scotty. Scotty reveals that he dreaded the times that he was put in charge of the Enterprise. He believes that while the decision is of course up to Geordi, there is no pressing reason that he should leave engineering if that is what he loves doing. Geordi decides that he will turn down Riker's offer in order to stay aboard the Enterprise.

Admiral Kathryn Janeway contacts Picard and tells him the situation regarding Kahless. Starfleet already has a dozen ships searching for the real Kahless and Janeway is ordering the Enterprise to sift through all of the available data and attempt to figure out where Kahless might be.

By analyzing all known information on Kahless, Data is able to use The Story of the Promise to deduce his location. They find him on Cygnet IV where he has spent the last six months. He was responsible for getting the hologram to replace him so that he could leave and find out how long it took the Klingons to notice his absence. After returning to Qo'noS, Kahless meets with Martok and tells him that he believes that he is no longer necessary since with Martok in power and honor is put above petty politics. In addition, he is simply tired and wants to take time to be selfish.

Worf and Alexander join the Enterprise in orbit around Qo'noS and Admiral Ross and the inspection team join them as well. The Enterprise has passed its inspection. As is traditional, Worf resigns as Ambassador to allow the new president to appoint someone new or to reinstate him. She had planned on reinstatement, but Worf refuses, recommending his son instead. Worf wishes to rejoin Starfleet. Ross reinstates him and offers the position of first officer of the Titan to him – not knowing that Riker has already offered it to Vale. He accepts as Vale tells Riker this is perfectly okay with her.

After yet another fight with her mother about the location of their wedding, Troi decides that they will have two ceremonies, one in Alaska and one on Betazed. The Enterprise heads back to Earth for the wedding and Vale requests leave to stay on Earth afterwards. Crusher decides to take the job offer to head Starfleet Medical and Guinan, Katherine Pulaski, and Wesley Crusher among others all show up for the wedding.

Riker, now a captain, visits Vale on Earth to tell her what really happened during then Enterprise's run-in with Shinzon and to offer her the position of first officer again. After Data's death, Picard has asked Worf to stay aboard the Enterprise.

Wesley spends time learning to be a Traveler while Alexander settles into his new job as Ambassador. Worf and Geordi go through Data's things including finding Spot. Piniero and Bacco are settling into their jobs and Picard reminisces about the past but looks to the future as he orders the ship to the Denabstar system.

Picard is essentially fully redeemed in the eyes of Starfleet Command after the Enterprise passes its inspection. When Beverly Crusher decides to accept the job at Starfleet Medical, he says he is happy for her rather than telling her how he really feels about her.

Vale is offered the position as the Titan's first officer after La Forge refuses it, but then Worf accepts the position with her blessing. But after Data is killed in the battle with Shinzon, Riker renews his offer to Vale and she accepts.

After single handedly stopping a hostile takeover of the Federation Embassy on Qo'noS, Worf decides to resign his position as ambassador requesting that his son Alexander Rozhenko take his place. Worf requests to be returned to Starfleet and is immediately offered a position as Riker's first officer on the Titan. He accepts, but decides to stay on the Enterprise due to a request by Picard after the death of Data.

The A Time to... miniseries was designed to fill the gap leading up to the last TNG movie Nemesis. Keith R. A. DeCandido indicated a very strong desire to explain why Worf had returned to Starfleet by the time of Nemesis, and as a later cut scene indicated it had happened recently before Nemesis it ended up meaning DeCandido would write the last novel in the miniseries. (Voyages of Imagination)

The political establishment as established in this novel resulted in a unique sequel by DeCandido looking into the Federation Presidency: Articles of the Federation.

This is the final story in the A Time to... series. The main part of the story ends right at the beginning of the events of Star Trek: Nemesis and the epilogue immediately follows those events. After the epilogue, the storyline divides into three separate storylines: